1982: USC offensive coordinator under head coach John Robinson in 8-3 season.

1983-86: USC head coach had 26-20-1 record. Three bowl berths from 1984-86. Beat Ohio State in Rose Bowl, 20-17, on Jan. 1, 1985. His staff included future NFL head coaches Norv Turner, Dave Wannstedt and Steve Mariucci. Tollner was fired and replaced by Larry Smith.

1987-88: Buffalo Bills receivers coach worked with receiver Andre Reed and QB Jim Kelly. Bills lost in AFC Championship Game to Cincinnati after 1988 season.

1989-91: Chargers QB coach and offensive coordinator worked with quarterbacks McMahon, Billy Joe Tolliver and John Friesz. Head coach was Dan Henning, whose record was 16-32. Henning fired him a game into the 1991 season.

1992-93: Los Angeles Rams QB coach. Jim Everett was the QB and threw 12 interceptions in 10 games in 1993.

1994-2001: SDSU head coach had 43-48 record. His teams were 8-4 in 1995 and 8-3 in ’96 but weren’t invited to bowls. Went to Las Vegas Bowl in 1998 and finished 7-5. Fired and replaced by Tom Craft.

2002-03: San Francisco 49ers QB coach worked with QB Jeff Garcia. Team went to playoffs with 10-6 record in ’02 and finished 7-9 in ’03.

2004: 49ers offensive coordinator under head coach Dennis Erickson, who was fired after 2-14 season.

2005: Detroit Lions offensive coordinator under head coach Steve Mariucci, who was fired after starting 4-7. Tollner finished season as tight ends coach.

2006: USD football radio analyst.

2007-08: 49ers consultant and QB coach. Hired toward end of 2007 and named QB coach for 2008, when he worked with QBs Shaun Hill and J.T. O’Sullivan. The Niners finished 7-9 after firing head coach Mike Nolan in October 2008. His replacement, Mike Singletary, fired Tollner after the season.

2009-10: Oakland Raiders passing game coordinator under head coach Tom Cable, who was fired after 8-8 season in 2010. Raiders ranked 23rd out of 32 teams in passing yards per game with 198.8 yards per game.

2011: Living on Sail Bay by San Diego’s Pacific Beach. Possibly retired.

Ted Tollner lives in a condominium on the beach at Sail Bay, just a short walk from the Pacific Ocean and SeaWorld.

It’s one of 24 different addresses he’s had since 1963. But this time it just might be his last stop.

After 47 years coaching all levels of football -- high school, junior college, major college and the NFL -- Tollner appears to be hanging up his headset and whistle at age 70.

“This is the third time he’s said he’s retiring,” noted Barbara Tollner, his wife of 52 years.

The other two times, Tollner returned to the NFL. The difference this time is that he turned down two NFL job opportunities recently after being fired by the Oakland Raiders. Instead of gearing up for another draft or mini-camp this spring, he’s planning to spend time with his 10 grandchildren, plus trips to Hawaii and Europe.

“I’m not used to it yet,” Barbara Tollner said. “Right now he’s scheduling me every minute, so I don’t get to rest very much.”

Ted Tollner hasn’t rested much since surviving a plane crash in 1960 that killed 22 people, including 16 of his Cal Poly teammates. Starting at Woodside High in 1963, his coaching career has led him to six NFL teams and three major college programs. His players have included Steve Young, Jim McMahon and Andre Reed. His subordinates have included future NFL head coaches Norv Turner, Dave Wannstedt and Steve Mariucci.

He won the Rose Bowl as head coach at USC in 1985. He also has been fired by USC (1986), the Chargers (1991), San Diego State (2001), the San Francisco 49ers (twice) and most recently the Raiders, who fired him along with head coach Tom Cable.

“He’d be the first to tell you he’s had a lot of success and a number or failures,” Cable said by phone Thursday. “Somewhere in between all that you kind of find your place. He’s been able to do that. It blows me away almost daily what he knows, how much he knows, what he adds to a team or a staff. His experience is incredible. For any young coach, it’s worth picking up the phone and calling him just to pick his brain, just to talk.”

There are plenty of topics to discuss with Tollner, whose honesty, friendships and vast experience have kept him in demand for a half century.

--On Raiders owner Al Davis: “Extremely unique,” Tollner said. “I don’t want to get into this too much. Al is very sensitive to everything, everything. One thing Al knew about me was when he asked me my opinion, he was going to get my opinion, not one I thought he wanted to hear. I’m not into stroking anybody. Don’t stroke somebody to save your job.”

Tollner was passing game coordinator under Cable the past two seasons.

--On getting fired as SDSU head coach in 2001: “One regret would be that when we had good teams, there weren’t enough bowl games that would have helped us maybe recruit better,” he said. “Nowadays if you can get into bowls, it helps your recruiting. We didn’t do a good job of recruiting the last couple of years.”

SDSU finished 8-4 and 8-3 under Tollner in 1995 and 1996 but didn’t get into bowls because there were only 18 bowl games then, compared to 35 now.

Tollner was fired after three straight losing seasons from 1999 to 2001. His eight-year record at SDSU was 43-48.

--On upgrading SDSU’s schedule: Tollner was a proponent of scheduling games against big-name teams in the Pac-10 and Big Ten conferences. Many of those games stayed on the schedule after he was fired and affected his successors. SDSU is 0-23 against power-conference teams since 1999.

“We won games at this other level, but I wanted to try to see if we can play some Pac-10 and Big Ten teams, so we started scheduling more of them,” Tollner said. “It started affecting some of the coaches after me. In the end, I think I loaded up too much.”

--On the best player he ever coached: Tollner says it’s unfair to single out one, though it’s hard to ignore the role he had in shaping future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young. Tollner was hired as quarterbacks coach at Brigham Young University for one season in 1981 when McMahon was the starting QB and Young was the backup. BYU defensive coordinator Fred Whittingham wanted to move Young from quarterback to safety. Tollner asked Young if he wanted to be a potential starter at safety or stay at quarterback behind McMahon. Tollner said Young told him he wanted to stay at QB.

“I told LaVell (Edwards, BYU’s head coach) that Steve was our next best quarterback, the quarterback of future,” Tollner said. “LaVell said, ‘Let me think about it.’ He decided to keep him there.”

--On bouncing back from hardship: After surviving a plane crash, getting fired doesn’t seem like much. He said it was “hurtful” to get fired as USC's head coach after three straight bowl berths. The positive outcome of it was that it led him to his first NFL job, as receivers coach of the Buffalo Bills.

Larry Smith replaced Tollner after 1986 and went to three straight Rose Bowls with many players recruited by Tollner.

“I’ve always felt like when something negative happens, if you dwell on it too long, it continues to happen,” said Tollner, whose four-year record at USC was 26-20-1. “For some reason it’s been relatively easy for me,

--On retirement: Is he really retired? “Right now the answer is yes,” he said.

By the middle of last season, Tollner said he told Cable, “I’ll do everything I can to help us make it and get you an extension, but I’m really serious about taking some time (after the season).”

He might work as a consultant or volunteer coach in the future. In the meantime, he plans family time with two daughters, a son and 10 grandchildren. He’s enjoying the sunsets on Sail Bay, where he bought the condo in 1994. He might even go to Europe with LaVell Edwards and his wife.

“He can’t do 80, 90 hours a week, seven days a week for six months,” Barbara Tollner said of the coaching workload. “That’s just too much of a grind.”

Said Ted Tollner: “I feel good about (taking time off). Maybe I have regrets in a month or two.”